Spain’s Financial Sector: Some Facts and Figures

Much has been spoken about Spain being in trouble. The UK press loves bad news and so announces stories with the same morbid glee that it would, I am sure, announce the end of the end the world. When one of the small regional banks in Spain was bailed out two weeks ago by The Bank of Spain, the British press ran the typical “Yet another Spanish bank…” story. Yet the bank in question accounts for less than 0.6% of the Spanish banking system. Spain is all about regions and small local banks as well as high street banks. This appears to be a concept that leaves us Brits confused. We try and measure everthing by our own yardstick.   Yet the UK press neglects to ask how it is that Banco Santander purchased Abbey National, Bradford and Bingley and has made huge inroads in our own financial sector.   So what if we were to compare the Spanish banks with their European counterparts. According to a report published today by Expansion, capital and reserves held by Spanish banks, including provisions made, amount to 7.9% of its debt which is 1.7% above the European average of 6.2%. Resources held by the Spanish banks far outweighs what the other European banks can count on. The report goes on to compare Spain to other countries, including France and Germany, and illustrates what some people already knew - yes the Spanish banks are more exposed than others when it comes to real estate investments, but in nearly ALL other areas they are actually stronger than most other banks. In terms of profit margins they are also streets ahead of their peers.   For the full report please see here http://www.expansion.com/2010/06/04/empresas/banca/1275684814.html

 

Have an Amazing Weekend.

Listings for Costa del Sol

Today Compass Amazing Resorts has made a general request for property owners in The Costa del Sol who wish to sell their properties to contact listings@amazingresorts.co.uk. In this way property owners can see their property on offer in more than 500 UK high street branches thanks to the affinity partnership that Compass Amazing Resorts shares with the estate agents Your Move and also Reeds Rains.

 

This is the first time in more than 18 months that Compass have opened up listings in this way and is a result of higher than expected sales in the first half of 2010. Tim Landseer Brookes explains why. ”Essentially we have to replensh stocks sold over the last lap, especially in Costa del Sol, where we have seen a great increase in demand.”

 

So if you wish to list your property with Compass Amazing Resorts don’t hesitate to write to listings@amazingresorts.co.uk today

Pound to Euro at its Highest Point in 2010!

The currency news for yesterday, June 2nd, was encouraging for overseas property buyers. The pound sterling was at 1.1957 against the Euro, a huge jump from the 1.10/1.11 levels of the past semester.

 

What does this mean in real times for a customer looking at property in Spain or Portugal? Let’s say you were looking to buy this two bed two bath apartment in the complex of Benatalaya on the road to Benahavis.  

 

 

The price of this property is currently 225,000 Euros, reduced for a quick sale in a complex where the next most economic unit is at 287,000 Euros. If you had purchased this property two weeks ago, the price in Sterling would have been 199,115 pounds. If you buy it this week it will cost 188,174 Pounds. So this amounts to a saving of 11,000 sterling for the same property.

 

Of course it begs the question, if I wait another six months then at this rate will it drop to about half its value? We never know, however it might drop more or indeed it could also go back up. However, we must always take into account the “Dutch Auction” nature of this market. There are people out there who have a set budget and when the price drops, for whatever reason, they act. A great property like this will not be there for ever. So if you were holding out for a Spanish luxury apartment for under 200,000 sterling, you can now get this fabulous two bed two bath in Benatalaya for 188,000. If you add the closing costs of around 9% then you pay 204,000 sterling and move in! This unit comes with TWO garage places, under floor heating in the two bathrooms and a fully fitted SIEMATICA kitchen.

 

If you wish further information on this or other properties overseas please email us on info@amazingresorts.co.uk or contact us via the website www.amazingresorts.co.uk

 

Whatever you do,

 

Enjoy the journey!

 

 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Spain’s problems spell opportunities for overseas buyers

 

There seem to be a great debate now as to whether a sovereign debt crisis in Spain actually makes it a worse time to buy.   Let’s look at the two sides of this debate. On the one hand we have people who believe that if the country gets into further difficulty then Spanish property will not be worth anything. In some ways they are right, but only with those properties that are available in abundance or that were already so overpriced that they are still not worth purchasing.

And this is the key. The other side of this story is that just because Spain is having a sovereign debt crisis that the developers or vendors of the country are suddenly going to be accepting any price or that we can buy the Royal Palace, La Zarzuela, in Madrid for a few quid. After all, don’t they say it’s a “sovereign debt” problem?

The reality is that this type of crisis will sort the wheat from the chaff but the property that has really been affected is the centre city property aimed at the nationals. They are now hitting the dole queues at a a terrible rate and soon will be unable to service the mortgages on their overvalued properties. In the face of negative equity will they walk away? They might, but history shows us that in the UK when faced with negative equity many people tightened their belts, borrowed from family and waited.

 

So perhaps the idea of buying a property in the centre of Palencia or Bilbao could be precarious because its price may fall even more if the economy does not recover. But can this be said of the property that is, and always was, destined to the foreign market?

In the market that concerns us, the Spanish Costas, could it not be argued that it is the UK economy that decides how the market reacts? True, there is some property that really will not sell but this is not to say that we can expect 8 bedroom villas in La Zagaleta to be down in price anytime soon.

We exagerate, of course. The large existing stock of two bed two bath apartments will certainly see “price adjustments” but there is still a hierarchy of quality to follow. The best property will hold prices and will sell before others. we are seeing great property selling NOW. Many clients are being disappointed because they wait too long and then some other Northern European buys the unit. If you hold out too long

We have seen whole Spanish property developments sell out in the last few months and these were developments that have had unsold units on them for years. Why? Because the Spanish economy has little to do with pricing in Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca. All of northern Europe would love to have a Spanish villa or apartment and they are quite literally lurking waiting, like in a Dutch auction, for the price to drop just a bit before snapping it up.

The number of British buyers in Spain in the last 5 months has once again surpassed buyers from other countries, but don’t be fooled into thinking you can take your time. If you find a great property, at a price you like, go for it because you may be disappointed. After all, you don’t want to be buying just one more distressed unit, you want to buy a great property that suits you and that you want to use. You could spend the rest of 2010 looking for a bargain or you could buy a bargain now and spend the rest of 2010 relaxing and using it!

Whatever you do, enjoy the journey!

Summer Shopping for Property

In spite of the adverse news about the “weaker” economies of the so called PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) Compass Amazing Resorts have seen a sharp upturn in visits AND buyers of property in three of their 6 destination resorts, Spain and Portugal being two of them along with Turkey

 

There could be many reasons for this, of course, however we believe that the main factors behind this are the price drops in Spain and Portugal. Many people know that, although there is an oversupply problem in Spain, the best deals go faster. Once someone sees something that they truly like, unless it is one of many, they should make a fair offer and go through with it.

 

Tim Landseer Brooks of Compass Amazing Resorts makes the following comments. “Those who are buying now are generally lifestyle customers. They want their place in the sun and know that now is a good time to buy. For lifestyle customers there is little to be gained waiting out the summers in search of a slightly better deal. They might as well get stuck in and start to enjoy the overseas lifestyle that has been their dream for so long.”

 

Another reason why there has been a pick up in people searching and buying is purely because the summer is the overseas property “season”. This is when people get time off and feel more inclined to visit the resorts and view property. Plus the relative weakness of the “target” economies is helping the pound move in our favour – just last week alone the shift in the pound has meant a decrease of nearly 3% in the price of Spanish or Portuguese property.

 

So if you have dreamed of buying that apartment in Marbella or a nice villa in Turkey or perhaps it’s a townhouse in Bodrum, Didum or some other part of the sun drenched Turkish coastline for you, get in contact with Compass Amazing Resorts via email on info@amazingresorts.co.uk give us a call or just drop in to a local branch of Reeds Rains or Your Move, our affinity partners in the UK.

 

Whatever happens, you’ll enjoy the journey with Amazing Resorts.

SIMA 2010 Starts today

As we had advanced in an earlier post, the Salon Inmobiliairia de Madrid or SIMA,  still the world’s largest real estate trade fair, opens its doors today. For all of us in the overseas property industry this trade fair represents an acid test to the relative strength of demand as well as giving indications as to what newbuild developers aim to do for the rest of the year.

You can obtain further information on the trade fair or why not just turn up at the IFEMA show centre in Madrid.

Enjoy the journey!

Spanish property dips below 100k Euros again

 

It is well known that property in Spain has been dropping in price for the last few years. Although in some areas these price drops have flattened, the news from Spain today is that in some areas prices have dropped below the “pyschological” 100k barrier.

At SIMA 2010, Madrid’s world famous real estate fair, there are properties on offer in many parts of Spain for less than 100,000 Euros, and some from as low as 59,000 Euros. Now even though a lot of this offer is urban inner city property don’t worry, the Spanish Costas are well represented in some of these offers.

But before you dash off to Spain to buy one of these bargains or think to use this info as a level to try and lower the price on that villa you’ve been following on the internet there are a few points that need to be emphasised here.

The properties at 59,000 Euros are in Foz, in the north of Spain on the “Lugo Coast”. These northern Spanish properties may not be to the taste of the typical overseas property buyers. The climate there is a bit like the UK and there are no useful airports nearby. What you save on the property you might lose on the airfares. Also a large number of these units are in “edificios de altura” which is the Spanish name for blocks of flats or “tall buildings”! Tall apartment blocks have never been what the UK market demands.

In saying all this, any price drop is great news as it places a downward pressure on ALL Spanish property. However, in the more sought after Costas, like La Costa del Sol, we are seeing that prices, far from dropping any further, are beginning to stabalise and even rise. A good example are properties on the road to Benahavis, just outside Marbella. Here over the last 18 months we have seen properties sell quite steadily and, as market forces do their thing, this has caused an increase in pricing as the stock diminishes. Pricing in that area, for quality apartments, is now closer to 250,000 Euros and developers are holding their ground in the face of aggressive offers from customers.

So do not be fooled by the press. Actually this is good advice even away from the world of property! There are bargains to be had in Spain, for now. But the good stuff, as always, is starting to dwindle. In this market the early bird gets the deal! The ideal thing is to contact an agent with years of experience in Spanish property, like Compass Amazing Resorts, and let them help filter the best property for you.

One last word of advice, Spanish property is not in the internet, it’s in Spain. Come on over and look at some!

Whatever you do, Enjoy the journey!

UK’s new government spells good news for overseas property

There can be no doubt that the forming of a new government in the UK, albeit a coalition government, spells good news for industry in general and the overseas property industry in particular.

At Compass Amazing Resorts we welcome this change of government and hope that the much hyped “sense of partnership and common purpose” truly helps get the country back on the road to prosperity.

A new government marks a new era of stability. The tories, even if their current mandate is leavened by a sprinkle of Lib Dems, have always been a party that backs business and supports economic growth. David Cameron should now impulse changes that bring about stability in the public and private sectors which in turn will stabilise the country and create employment. This in turn will lead to a return of confidence in the economy. Something that we have all been waiting for.

Mortgages granted in Spain rises 8.5% in February

For all of those who are waiting for a ”recovery” in Spain the 8.5% increase in February of mortgages granted in the country is certainly a good sign. This marks the second consecutive month with positive interannual figures.

According to Spain’s National Institude of Statistics 54,813 mortgages were granted in February. This is 6.2% above January which had already been hailed as a good sign with an interannual increase of 2.3%.

For people wishing to obtain a mortgage on their Spanish property, or for people wishing to sell on property, this is clearly good news. “We have clients who have property in Nagueles, in Marbella,” explains Helen Smith, from Compass Amazing Resorts, and they have been able to sell because the family wishing to buy their home obtained a mortgage in only three weeks.”.

The Minister of Housing for Spain, Beatriz Corredor, has also pointed out that these figures are a clear indication that the Spanish banks and building societies are making access to finance “more agile” than before. It is interesting to note that November 2009 ended 28 months of negative tendency in finance for homes and housing in Spain, although December then returned to a negative year on year percentage.

At Compass Amazing Resorts we are delighted to see that Spain, although it has been downgraded again last week by S&P, is starting to get some positive figures on the board. More than 800 Britons have purchased property in different parts of Spain such as the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol and even more out of the way places such as Galicia and Asturias. “The British love affair with Spain goes back decades and won’t be kept back for long, even in the face of financial turmoil”, adds Helen.

So as airlines and overseas property go hand in hand…

Stricken British Airways has had one strike and then one week of ashen disaster after the Icelandic volcano did, or did not – as this is now open to debate – closed down European airspace. At Amazing Resorts we saw a week of almost no activity in overseas property thanks to the latter and received delayed, irritable and not very interested visits because of the former. So for us expert expats it is no secret that there is a direct link between overseas property and the airlines.

Now we see that British Airways cabin crew are once again looking to strike and we sigh and look to the heavens (No pun intended!). We don’t pretend to understand the beef that the cabin crew with their employers, but we do think that this whole episode is damaging the reputation and also the revenue and therefore survival of one of the world’s best airlines. If they do not solve this then will the future of air travel be in the hands of Ryan Air and Easy Jet? Not that we have a problem with these airlines, but we would like the power of choice. Imagine the airports if none of the airlines had seat allocation. We could have a set of starting blocks just past passport control and perhaps throw in some obstacles for them while allowing for a glass tunnel where the speedy boarders will stroll past on the way to the gate.

Nope, it’s not a future we would relish. Come on BA, get things sorted so we can settle down and receive contented passengers. After all, if you strike everytime the volcano is not bothering us we’ll never get anywhere.

However, where ever you go, check out our destinations for great second homes and residences in the sun and above all,

Enjoy the journey!